Itching for Beyond Earth? Here are some space strategy alternatives

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth doesn’t officially arrive until next month, but gamers are already buzzing about this Firaxis/2K Games Civ-in-space entry.

Land on a planet and go to colonize it, and voilà, it’s a Civilization game with quests and aliens and space objectives. But October 24 seems so far away, you say. What will you do until then?